Onions are a wonderful staple crop in our household, and we like to store some of our onion bulbs for 6-8 months over the winter. We eat a lot of them, and we usually plant over 200 onions each year. If you follow a few simple steps, you can harvest a large amount of high-quality onions from a small garden.

Onions are such a versatile vegetable – they feature in so many recipes, so growing your own onions means you’ll always have them to hand. They are easy to grow from baby onions called sets. Although seed is available, sets are the easiest and quickest way to grow onions. Sets are also are better in colder regions, and are less likely to be attacked by some pests and diseases.

If you are in the north, I would recommend starting your seeds indoors under lights instead – though it would be worth experimenting planting some in cold frames, too.

Onions are one of the few vegetables where I will start multiple plants together in one container, instead of starting individual plants in separate pots.

They readily tolerate being transplanted as bare-root plants, unlike most seedlings, and it’s easy to separate the onion seedling roots.

Given good growing conditions in the garden, the largest and most vigorous seedlings will produce the largest bulbs.

So give your young plants deep soil and enough elbow room to grow.

I try to allow each seedling at least 1-2 square inches of space in the seedling flat or containers.

You don’t need to be super exact in planting the seeds.

If you’re using 3” square containers, just sprinkle 10-12 seeds fairly evenly over the surface of the soil, and then cover them with a thin layer of more soil.

Your plants will grow OK in a 3.

5” deep pot, but they will grow even better in a deeper 5” pot.

Transplanting the Seedlings into Your GardenYou can usually transplant the seedlings into your garden around 4 weeks before your last spring frost date.

It’s best to harden off the seedlings before planting them, to get them used to direct sunlight and wind.

Another option is to plant them in the garden bed, and then protect them with row cover, gradually exposing them to more sunlight over a week or so.

If you want the highest yields per square foot and don’t mind harvesting smaller bulbs, you can space your plants about 3-4” apart.

I prefer to use large bulbs in my kitchen, so I plant mine about 5” apart.

Plant your seedlings at about the same depth they were growing in their containers.

If you have more transplants than you need, plant your largest ones and dispose of the weaklings.

Harvesting: Onions can be harvested when the foliage turns yellow and starts to topple over. Although it is sometimes suggested to bend over the foliage or gently lift the bulbs to break the roots, this is no longer recommended.Leave for two to three weeks and then carefully lift with a garden fork. Onions for storage must be firm, disease-free and then dried for two to three weeks, either laid out in the sun or in a shed if the weather is wet.UseMedicinal use:

Onion is used for treating digestion problems including loss of appetite, upset stomach, and gallbladder disorders; for treating heart and blood vessel problems including chest pain (angina) and high blood pressure; and for preventing “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis).

It is also used for treating sore mouth and throat, whooping cough, bronchitis, asthma, dehydration, intestinal gas, parasitic worms, and diabetes.

In general use a soil-based compost placed over a generous layer of drainage material such as earthenware crocks, pebbles or gravel. Water and feed regularly, especially while plants are bearing flowers and fruit, when a high-potash fertilizer is recommended.

Buy Decorative Pebbles :

Decorate planters or garden landscapes with these decorative pebbles :

Using pebbles in a garden brings different colours and textures to the garden. Pebbles can also fill up otherwise empty space in the garden, leaving a visual that might be considered more interesting and aesthetic than simple dirt, soil or mulch.